Nature's Notebook: Songbird Celebration

The stillness and quiet of winter has been broken by the spring melodies and activities of returning songbirds. The contrast in seasons was even more apparent after the last snowfall when low temperatures prevailed, but the bright sun seemed to energize the variety of feathered migrants that have begun staking out their breeding territories. What are some of the birds that help usher in spring? Which habitats end up as their homes? What becomes of the winter residents that wait out the snows with us? Do they stay to nest or go further north?

Songbirds we associate with the arrival of spring have spent their winter in southern states or even as far away as Central or South America. Other types of returning birds as ducks and geese will be noticed on ponds or flying overhead, but do not have the often melodious calls of songbirds. Hearing once again the "konk-la-reee" of the red-winged blackbird along road-side wetlands or marshes or the clear caroling song of the American robin in still leaf-less trees is nature's way of saying winter is on its way out. Other returning migrants perhaps not as well noticed are killdeer in some farm fields, the common grackle and brown-headed cowbird frequenting feeders, and tree swallows which are able to eat weed seeds and wild fruits when cold days make insects hard to find. The more intense sunshine coupled with longer days and bird song is just a sweet experience even after taunting late winter snowstorms.

Tree swallow are the first type of swallow to return because of their broader food choices as well as their ability to wait out intermittent cold spring weather in abandoned woodpecker holes and other sheltering cavities. As the weather warms, barn swallows will arrive and other migrants as vireos, warblers, and hummingbirds. Insects and flowers need to be available for food for these.

The migrants join winter residents as blue jays, cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees, and downy and hairy woodpeckers in fanning out among the habitats to set up territories and claim nesting areas. Some of our winter residents may move further north and be replaced by others of the same species who wintered further south, but even the birds as cardinals that stayed relatively quiet over the winter have started their spring songs.

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You might wonder how so many notes can come out of such little birds. Part of the answer is in a songbird's ability to sing different notes at the same time. Their song box is inside their chest where the windpipe divides to the two lungs. The two sheets of skin on each side of the song box can be tensed separately giving them this unique ability. Their voice box in their throat serves to amplify the sounds that have already been made.

Not all songbirds come out with appealing melodies. The blue jay's voice is often a harsh "jeeah" or more musical "queedle, queedle" yet the jay is a songbird. This is because classification of songbirds is not based on their musical ability but on their feet. All songbirds have on each foot three toes pointing forward and one pointing backward. Their feet can self-lock when they perch enabling them to stay on a branch even when asleep. Acceptance into the songbird club based on your feet is an oddity of anatomy and human classification, but after a long winter of few sounds besides cold winds, any welcoming call adds to the celebration we hear now in spring's Nature's Notebook.

Sandy de Waal Malefyt is a local nature enthusiast and science teacher.